Even as Congress prepares to debate whether to legalize 11 million illegal immigrants and give them a path to citizenship, analysts are cautioning lawmakers to focus on the other part of immigration: assimilating them fully into America.

All sides in the debate agree that assimilation is critical, but in a report being released Monday, the Hudson Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, says the country has failed on that account in recent years.

They found that immigrants — even those who earn U.S. citizenship — have far less attachment to their new home than native-born Americans. Among the findings are that native-born citizens are more likely to view the U.S. as “better” than other countries, more likely to see English as central to the American experience, and more likely to see the U.S. Constitution as a higher legal authority than international law.

Ten U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are asking a federal judge to block an initiative by the Obama administration that defers deportation action against law-abiding undocumented immigrants.

Announced by President Barack Obama last year, the program allows the children of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. before age 16 to remain in the country if they have no criminal record and meet other criteria.

The agents sued ICE and the federal Department of Homeland Security over the policy in August. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Dallas is set to hear arguments today on a request to block the measure.

A bipartisan Senate group on immigration legislation is attempting to craft an agreement so secure that the eight members will oppose amendments to its core provisions, an arrangement that could delay the introduction of a bill, people familiar with the negotiations said.

The senators had said they hoped to present their proposals this week, but Republican members expressed skepticism about that timetable Sunday. The group continues to negotiate issues related to new visa programs for agricultural and high-tech workers and has not reached agreement on a guest-worker program for low-skilled foreign laborers, said the individuals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

The union representing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents says that the immigration legislation proposed by the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” gives amnesty for illegal aliens priority over immigration law enforcement. Chris Crane, head of the union, the National ICE Council, stated, “The plan of the Gang of Eight appears to be legalization or amnesty first, and then enforcement. That’s a big problem for us.”

A sophisticated airborne radar system developed to track Taliban fighters planting roadside bombs in Afghanistan has found a new use along the U.S. border with Mexico, where it has revealed gaps in security.

Operated from a Predator surveillance drone, the radar system has collected evidence that Border Patrol agents apprehended fewer than half of the foreign migrants and smugglers who had illegally crossed into a 150-square-mile stretch of southern Arizona.

The number of “gotaways,” as the Border Patrol calls those who escape apprehension, is both more precise and higher than official estimates.

The Senate’s draft immigration bill will increase the inflow of foreign workers to 1 million people per year, according to government data and news reports.

The 1 million inflow would provide almost one foreign worker for every four Americans who turn 18.

The rate would be high enough to fill up all the extra jobs created during the last five months.

The 1 million inflow would include at least 350,000 people capable of competing for middle-class skilled jobs sought by the 1.8 million Americans who graduate from university each year.

“I believe in a free-market, but this [inflow] will aggravate the problems for [American] graduates,” Richard Vedder, director of the libertarian Center for College Affordability and Productivity, told The Daily Caller.

Senate Budget Committee Republican staff on Thursday released a description of what they claim is a “major flaw” in the immigration reform plan being pushed by the bipartisan “Gang of Eight”–a loophole that will end up being a multi-trillion dollar entitlement spending increase, with the burden falling on American taxpayers.

“According to what has been publicly reported about the Gang of Eight’s forthcoming immigration bill, there appears to be a major flaw that could allow millions of illegal immigrants to access federal welfare benefits and poverty programs,” the GOP Budget Committee staff wrote in a statement to media.

Since the discussion of granting amnesty began in Congress, illegal border crossings have substantially increased, according to data cited by Townhall. A Border Patrol agent quoted by Townhall stated, “We’ve seen the number of illegal aliens double, maybe even triple since amnesty talks started happening. A lot of these people, although not the majority, are criminals or aggravated felons. This is a direct danger to our communities.”

A spokesman for President Obama said that Obama wants amnesty legislation to move quickly through Congress without significant scrutiny by congressional committees. Many Washington observers agree that the more amnesty is examined, the less likely that it will pass.

The Sunlight Foundation says that over the last five years more than 3,100 lobbyists registered to work members of Congress on immigration — a figure that underscores the big stakes involved both ideologically and economically.

“The companies they represent range from firms seeking high-tech workers to agribusinesses in search of farm workers. And even though there has been no serious effort to enact a major immigration reform bill since 2010, the lobbyists have been working the hallways of Congress out of the national spotlight to push for their clients’ interests,” wrote Sunlight reporter Anupama Narayanswamy.

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